Walmart plans to develop a Sustainability Index that measures the sustainability of every product it sells. One of the first steps Walmart took toward in the index was aking all vendors 15 questions about their sustainability.
The questions, divided into four categories, are as follows:
Energy & Climate: Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
1. Have you measured your corporate greenhouse gas emissions?
2. Have you opted to report your greenhouse gas emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)?
3. What is your total annual greenhouse gas emissions reported in the most recent year measured?
4. Have you set publicly available greenhouse gas reduction targets? If yes, what are those targets?
Material Efficiency: Reducing Waste & Enhancing Quality
5. If measured, please report the total amount of solid waste generated from the facilities that produce your product(s) for Walmart for the most recent year measured.
6. Have you set publicly available solid waste reduction targets? If yes, what are those targets?
7. If measured, please report total water use from facilities that produce your product(s) for Walmart for the most recent year measured.
8. Have you set publicly available water use reduction targets? If yes, what are those targets?
Natural Resources: Producing High Quality, Responsibly Sourced Raw Materials
9. Have you established publicly available sustainability purchasing guidelines for your direct suppliers that address issues such as environmental compliance, employment practices and product/ingredient safety?
10. Have you obtained third-party certificatoins for any of the products you sell to Walmart?
People & Community: Ensuring Responsible & Ethical Production
11. Do you know the location of 100 percent of the facilities that produce your product(s)?
12. Before beginning a business relationship with a manufacturing facility, do you evaluate the quality of, and capacity for, production?
13. Do you have a process for managing social compliance at the manufacturing level?
14. Do you work with your supply base to resolve issues found during social compliance evaluations and also document specific corrections and improvements?
15. Do you invest in community development activities in the markets you source from and/or operate within?